GIS for Public Health in Humanitarian Crises using QGIS and Epi Info Training Course

Module 1: Introduction to GIS and Public Health in Humanitarian Contexts

• Overview of humanitarian crises: Types, phases, and health impacts.
• The critical role of GIS in the humanitarian program cycle (preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation).
• Key public health concepts for spatial analysis: Disease surveillance, determinants of health, access to services.
• Introduction to the open-source GIS ecosystem for humanitarian action (QGIS, Epi Info, ODK/KoboToolbox).
• Ethical considerations, data privacy, confidentiality, and data sharing protocols in humanitarian GIS.
• Practical session: Analyzing real-world case studies of GIS applications in humanitarian health emergencies and discussing ethical dilemmas.

Module 2: Geospatial Data Collection and Management for Health Emergencies

• Types of public health data in emergencies: Case data, facility data, population data, infrastructure data.
• Geospatial data collection methods: GPS devices, mobile data collection (KoboToolbox, ODK, Survey123).
• Designing effective digital spatial data collection forms and surveys.
• Data quality control and validation strategies for field-collected public health data.
• Best practices for data management: Organization, cleaning, transformation, and preparation for GIS.
• Practical session: Designing and deploying a mobile health survey form for data collection, then importing simulated data into QGIS.

Module 3: Core QGIS Functionalities for Public Health Analysis

• Mastering the QGIS interface and essential tools for spatial analysis.
• Loading, symbolizing, and styling vector data (points, lines, polygons) for health mapping.
• Working with raster data: Satellite imagery, population grids, elevation models.
• Understanding and managing projections, coordinate reference systems, and reprojection.
• Fundamental geoprocessing tools: Clip, dissolve, merge, buffer, intersect.
• Practical session: Importing diverse public health spatial datasets into QGIS, applying advanced symbology, and performing basic geoprocessing operations.

Module 4: Spatial Epidemiology and Advanced Disease Mapping

• Principles of spatial epidemiology: Understanding disease distribution, determinants, and diffusion.
• Advanced thematic mapping of disease incidence, prevalence, and mortality rates (e.g., standardized rates).
• Mapping and analyzing disease outbreaks, clusters, and spread dynamics.
• Identifying statistically significant disease clusters using tools like Hot Spot Analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) and Cluster and Outlier Analysis (Anselin Local Moran's I).
• Risk stratification and vulnerability mapping for specific diseases.
• Practical session: Performing advanced disease mapping, calculating incidence rates, and identifying statistically significant disease clusters in a simulated outbreak scenario.

Module 5: Environmental Health Risk Assessment and Mapping

• Mapping environmental determinants of health: Water sources, sanitation facilities, waste sites, air quality data.
• Assessing exposure pathways to environmental hazards: Flood zones, pollution sources, industrial areas.
• Creating comprehensive environmental health risk maps by combining multiple layers.
• Analyzing proximity to hazardous sites and vulnerable populations.
• Using remote sensing derivatives for environmental health monitoring (e.g., land cover, temperature).
• Practical session: Creating multi-criteria environmental health risk maps by combining and weighting different spatial layers related to hazards and exposure.

Module 6: Healthcare Access, Resource Allocation, and Service Delivery Optimization

• Mapping existing healthcare facilities: Hospitals, clinics, mobile health units.
• Advanced analysis of spatial accessibility to health services (e.g., travel time analysis using network datasets, service areas).
• Identifying critical gaps in health service provision and underserved populations.
• Optimizing facility placement, mobile clinic routes, and resource distribution using spatial analysis.
• Mapping human resources for health and their geographical distribution.
• Practical session: Performing network analysis to calculate travel times to health facilities and identify areas with poor access, then proposing optimal locations for new clinics.

Module 7: Population Mapping, Vulnerability, and Displacement Analysis

• Methods for population estimation in crisis contexts: Census data, population grids (e.g., WorldPop, HRSL), satellite imagery.
• Creating high-resolution population distribution maps and demographic profiles.
• Identifying and mapping vulnerable populations: Displaced persons, refugees, elderly, children, disabled.
• Overlaying socio-economic indicators to create composite vulnerability indices.
• Using GIS for camp management, settlement planning, and tracking population movements.
• Practical session: Using population raster data and socio-economic indicators to create a multi-layer vulnerability map for a simulated displacement scenario.

Module 8: Introduction to Epi Info for Epidemiological Data Management

• Overview of Epi Info software: Form design, data entry, basic analysis.
• Designing robust public health questionnaires and survey forms in Epi Info's Form Designer.
• Setting up validation rules and skip patterns for enhanced data quality.
• Basic data entry, management, cleaning, and filtering workflows in Epi Info.
• Exporting Epi Info data in various formats suitable for GIS integration.
• Practical session: Designing a complex epidemiological survey form in Epi Info with skip patterns and validation, and practicing efficient data entry.

Module 9: Advanced Epi Info Data Analysis and Survey Design

• Performing advanced statistical analysis in Epi Info: Frequencies, cross-tabs, chi-square, t-tests, regression.
• Generating epidemiological tables and charts (e.g., epidemic curves).
• Working with multiple forms and relational databases within Epi Info.
• Conducting outbreak investigation analysis using Epi Info.
• Best practices for survey design and data collection in emergency settings.
• Practical session: Analyzing a simulated outbreak dataset within Epi Info, generating an epidemic curve, and identifying key demographic risk factors.

Module 10: Integrating Epi Info and Other Health Data with QGIS

• Importing various tabular health datasets (CSV, Excel) into QGIS.
• Geocoding public health records: Address matching, coordinate conversion, manual geocoding.
• Performing attribute joins and spatial joins between tabular health data and spatial layers in QGIS.
• Creating dynamic thematic maps and charts from joined attributes for health indicators.
• Handling messy or incomplete geospatial health data.
• Practical session: Importing a multi-source health dataset (including Epi Info export) into QGIS, geocoding it, and performing complex joins to create integrated health maps.

Module 11: Geocoding and Address Matching for Public Health Data

• Principles of geocoding: Converting addresses or place names to geographic coordinates.
• Geocoding methods: Online services, local geocoders, manual geocoding.
• Strategies for improving geocoding accuracy in challenging environments.
• Best practices for preparing address data for geocoding.
• Handling non-standard addresses and place names in humanitarian contexts.
• Practical session: Geocoding a list of health facility addresses or disease case locations using various methods in QGIS and assessing accuracy.

Module 12: Network Analysis for Health Logistics and Access

• Building network datasets from road and pathway layers in QGIS.
• Performing shortest path analysis for emergency vehicle routing.
• Calculating service areas for health facilities based on travel time/distance.
• Optimizing health commodity distribution routes.
• Locating the closest facility for a given patient or incident.
• Practical session: Creating a network dataset and performing emergency response routing and service area analysis for a simulated scenario.

Module 13: Time Series and Spatio-Temporal Analysis for Outbreaks

• Understanding spatio-temporal data for disease surveillance.
• Visualizing disease trends over space and time (e.g., animated maps).
• Analyzing spatio-temporal clusters of disease.
• Introduction to predicting future outbreak patterns using historical data.
• Methods for integrating time-stamped health data with spatial information.
• Practical session: Creating an animated time-series map of a simulated disease outbreak to visualize its spread and evolution over time.

Module 14: Automated Mapping and Reporting with QGIS

• Principles of efficient map production for humanitarian reporting.
• Using QGIS Print Layouts for professional map design.
• Creating map series and atlases for rapid reporting across multiple areas.
• Automating map exports and report generation using QGIS functions or simple Python scripting.
• Designing dashboards and infographics incorporating maps for decision-makers.
• Practical session: Designing a multi-page atlas for a public health report, showcasing different health indicators across various administrative units.

Module 15: Introduction to Remote Sensing for Public Health

• Overview of satellite imagery and its applications in public health.
• Using satellite data for population estimation and mapping informal settlements.
• Identifying environmental factors influencing health (e.g., water bodies, vegetation health, urban heat islands).
• Rapid damage assessment and infrastructure mapping using pre- and post-crisis imagery.
• Accessing and utilizing open-source satellite data platforms.
• Practical session: Loading and interpreting satellite imagery in QGIS to identify features relevant to public health (e.g., water sources, informal settlements).

Module 16: Data Quality, Ethics, and Privacy in Humanitarian GIS

• Importance of data quality: Accuracy, completeness, consistency, timeliness.
• Strategies for data validation and error detection in geospatial health data.
• Navigating ethical considerations in mapping sensitive public health data.
• Protecting privacy and confidentiality of individuals in spatial datasets.
• Data sharing protocols and considerations for humanitarian operations.
• Practical session: Conducting a data quality audit on a simulated public health dataset and discussing strategies for de-identification and secure data sharing.

Module 17: Web-Based GIS for Public Health Information Sharing

• Overview of web mapping concepts for public health communication.
• Introduction to open-source web mapping libraries (e.g., Leaflet.js, OpenLayers) for displaying health data.
• Using online platforms for sharing interactive public health maps (e.g., QGIS Cloud, ArcGIS Online public maps).
• Designing dashboards for real-time public health monitoring.
• Principles of effective visualization for public health audiences.
• Practical session: Creating a simple interactive web map of public health data using a free online platform or a basic HTML/JavaScript setup.

Module 18: Applied Project: End-to-End GIS for Public Health in Crisis

• Comprehensive review of all learned concepts and techniques.
• Participants work individually or in groups on a realistic simulated public health humanitarian crisis scenario.
• Project stages: Data acquisition, cleaning, integration, spatial analysis, visualization, and reporting.
• Development of a final map product or spatial analysis report.
• Presentation of project findings and discussion of practical challenges and solutions.
• Practical session: Participants execute a full-cycle GIS project for a simulated public health crisis, culminating in a detailed analysis and presentation of their findings.

Requirements:

·       Participants should be reasonably proficient in English.

·       Applicants must live up to Armstrong Global Institute admission criteria.

Terms and Conditions

1. Discounts: Organizations sponsoring Four Participants will have the 5th attend Free

2. What is catered for by the Course Fees: Fees cater for all requirements for the training – Learning materials, Lunches, Teas, Snacks and Certification. All participants will additionally cater for their travel and accommodation expenses, visa application, insurance, and other personal expenses.

3. Certificate Awarded: Participants are awarded Certificates of Participation at the end of the training.

4. The program content shown here is for guidance purposes only. Our continuous course improvement process may lead to changes in topics and course structure.

5. Approval of Course: Our Programs are NITA Approved. Participating organizations can therefore claim reimbursement on fees paid in accordance with NITA Rules.

Booking for Training

Simply send an email to the Training Officer on training@armstrongglobalinstitute.com and we will send you a registration form. We advise you to book early to avoid missing a seat to this training.

Or call us on +254720272325 / +254725012095 / +254724452588

Payment Options

We provide 3 payment options, choose one for your convenience, and kindly make payments at least 5 days before the Training start date to reserve your seat:

1. Groups of 5 People and Above – Cheque Payments to: Armstrong Global Training & Development Center Limited should be paid in advance, 5 days to the training.

2. Invoice: We can send a bill directly to you or your company.

3. Deposit directly into Bank Account (Account details provided upon request)

Cancellation Policy

1. Payment for all courses includes a registration fee, which is non-refundable, and equals 15% of the total sum of the course fee.

2. Participants may cancel attendance 14 days or more prior to the training commencement date.

3. No refunds will be made 14 days or less before the training commencement date. However, participants who are unable to attend may opt to attend a similar training course at a later date or send a substitute participant provided the participation criteria have been met.

Tailor Made Courses

This training course can also be customized for your institution upon request for a minimum of 5 participants. You can have it conducted at our Training Centre or at a convenient location. For further inquiries, please contact us on Tel: +254720272325 / +254725012095 / +254724452588 or Email training@armstrongglobalinstitute.com

Accommodation and Airport Transfer

Accommodation and Airport Transfer is arranged upon request and at extra cost. For reservations contact the Training Officer on Email: training@armstrongglobalinstitute.com or on Tel: +254720272325 / +254725012095 / +254724452588